'Emo' Braun

For the past two weeks, Braun has not been her usual self.  She hides away in the bomb shelter most of the time.  She only surfaces when Grimlock or I step into the bomb shelter - this is when she'll come out and eat and then immediately go back into hiding again.  She has been more jittery (she is timid by nature) than usual and acts warily.  She seems to be twitching quite a bit too (her lower back), and she has been flicking her paw and licking her back quite a bit (the area near her shoulder blade).  And when she is out of hiding, she makes short dashes around the house.  Fortunately, she still is eating well and her poo looks normal. 

In between the two weeks, there were short durations where she resumed back to her 'normal' usual self but soon after, she snapped back into this neurotic state (don't know how else to describe what is wrong with her) again.  Previously, Braun had displayed such behaviour but never for such a duration, and so we brought her to Dr K yesterday, 12 Dec.

For the past two weeks, Braun could only be found in the bomb shelter...

Dr K checked her vital signs and he said all these were normal.  We gave him a detailed description of her behaviour.  And he asked us a couple of questions.  He also felt her body all over and observed her walking.  We did not make changes of any kind at home and there has not been any renovation at our neighbour's.  It was Bath Day two Sundays ago but Braun takes to bathing very well and the session went well as usual for her so we'd think it was coincidence her strange behaviour came on after that.  I also learnt from Dr K the twitching is a form of epilepsy (all along I thought it was an emotional display rather than a condition).  We discussed the options, namely, run a blood test and CT scan on her, try out Bach flower essence remedy and/or put her on medication to treat epilepsy.  Options #1 and #3 might bring on more stress given her present state so we agreed to try out the Bach remedy first at this juncture.    

We're to drop three drops of the Bach remedy into food or water 2-4 times daily for two weeks.  Alternatively, we can apply the remedy behind the ears, on the temples or on the throat.  I was amused to read of the description on the bottle: "... Helps you cope in balancing life's up and downs.  Assists the return to a more positive outlook when you need comfort and reassurance.  Provides support at times of emotional demand,..."  The ingredients are: 5x dilution of flower extracts of Rock Rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of Bethlehem, Cherry Plum in a grape alcohol solution. 

We started Braun on the Bach remedy yesterday by adding it into her dinner; gave her Fussie cat tuna so as to mask the remedy (it smells like cough syrup to me).  She has been her usual self so far.  She is back to ordering her human slave aka Mousie around.  I really hope she is not going through a swing and she'll be alright soon.

Braun snoozing away on my beanie seat after we got back from the vet's.  Glad to see her coming out of her shell...